EFG London Jazz Festival: Córas Trio

Doors 7:45 pm, music 8:30 pm - 2 sets of music.

Córas Trio reinvent the spontaneous. Deconstructed Irish traditional melodies emerge from blissful, otherworldly textures that foreground fiddle, guitar and percussion with transcendental electronics, suspending elements of collective free improvisation with seisiún-style playfulness. They are part of a creative wave of musicians based in Belfast exploring how traditional music relates to the experience of the 21st century, challenging ideas of cultural purism and subverting audiences’ expectations (Kate Molleson BBC Radio 3).

Their rise has seen them support experimental folk heavy weights such as The Olllam, Aidan O’Rourke and Brìghde Chaimbeul, Väsen and Hawktail. Their debut album, released in July 2024, received critical acclaim, leading to a string of headline shows across Ireland, a BBC Radio 6 New Music Fix live session, and global radio play and press features, including The Wire, The Irish Times, RTÉ and Mojo magazine. Their avant-folk sound has been described as Irish traditional music taken to the outer reaches where the spirits of Schoenberg and Sun Ra play with Seán Ó Riada and Tommie Potts.

The trio were selected to showcase at WOMEX Manchester 2024 and Celtic Connections 2025, securing international bookings well into 2026. 2025 has seen them perform at Eurojazz Mexico City, Jazzycolors Paris, Saison Pannonica Nantes, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Other Voices Ireland. Their Irish bookings are currently handled by Moving On Music’s Middle-Aisle.

‘Absolutely special and totally unusual!’ (Caoimhe Ní Chathail, BBC Radio Ulster) ‘Imaginative, quick witted, boldly investigating 21st century Irish identity’ (The Wire) ‘Explosive!’ (Soweto Kinch BBC Radio 3).